Bird and babies - (updated)

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Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 5:30 pm

My mom has some potted plants in her back yard. She has a Boston Terrier.

Dog goes out to potty this morning. Mom goes to get dog a few minutes later - dog has knocked over a potted plant.

There was a bird's nest with 5 baby birds in it. They have started to get feathers.

I put dirt back in the pot and fixed the nest the best that I can. Will the mom come back for the babies? I had to move the pot over about 18 inches so I could secure it so it won't fall again - and we are going to not let the dog out without being on a leash if we can keep the babies alive and get the mama to come back.

Do you think the mama is too traumatized to come back? She's a little brown bird - maybe 4 inches long at the most. She's small. And she has 5 babies!!!!

What would you do? I'm dealing with so much drama right now and g'ma in the hospital and was supposed to be collecting more data for my dissertation. So I hope you guys can help me out with some advice here!

Baiting Guru Joined: 07 Jan 2007 Posts: 2922

This i know from cats-if kittens smell of humans and they are still young enough (ie bond has yet to be established) then the mother may well reject the kittens. If you didn't handle the birds directly then they should be ok-if you did it could go either way. In future i'd recommend gardening gloves.

Adamu's soulmate Joined: 23 Nov 2007 Posts: 337

from your description it sounds like the bird may well be a wren. They nest in garden pots amongst a host of other things at ground level

It�s a myth that the parents of a wild bird will reject a baby touched by human hands as birds have almost no sense of smell.

Baby birds that have fallen from their nest should be returned to it , as long as the nest can be safely reached.

Hope their mum returns Sad

Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 6:55 pm

Mom will be back and is probably watching from a safe distance, avoid touching birds with bare hands, put them back in the nest and get that corner of the garden as quiet as possible, you'll have to take the dog for a real walk now.
Girl you sure know how to find trouble Wink

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 12:24 am

You can't start a thread like this without a follow up Laughing

HOW ARE THEY DOING ?

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 12:39 am

Hopefully she took them back-if you get forced into it,as I recall,fish food,disolved,and given with an eyedropper works.Yes,I did do it.My avatar is likely spinning in his grave.

Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 5:07 pm

BUMP sorry mods Embarassed

Quote:

HOW ARE THEY DOING ?

and GM of course

Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 6:20 pm

Ok the nest was torn and a storm was coming - I was really afraid they'd die. So I took a plastic milk jug and cut a hole in it - stuffed the nest in it - put more moss on the bottom as that's what the bird had been using. I then put the babies on it and put them back. ETA: I used an ice pick to put holes all in the milk jug - to let air in since it's hot here - and I put holes in the bottom to let water drain in case it rains.

The mom came back and has been taking care of the babies.

The sad news is that this morning, 4 of the babies are pink and one is white and still. I will take the dead baby out soon.

Anyway - it's great that the mom has taken them back and seems ok with her "man made" home. I've also been putting bird food out for her - - on the other side of the house.

Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 6:30 pm

Thanks and GM, non of my business? I can live with that. Hope she's doing fine.
Make sure the bottle is ventilated and not in the direct sun, good job, the birds will love you.

Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 6:36 pm

Glad I was not the only one worried about the babies.

The RSPB site gets asked that question all the time, and they basically say, try to avoid handling them as much as possible, but if they are in danger, move them. Which was exactly what you did.

I have all kinds of goodies out for the birds as well. The Boyfriend Unit calls me "bird whipped." Good to know I'm not the only one!

Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 6:39 pm

Sorry - I'm not feeling well this morning (not used to eating southern fried food and it's made me sick - so I was in bed most of the morning!) Anyway, I read GM as "good morning" Now I realize you meant my grandma - she's doing better. She's still in the hospital and will hopefully get out soon. I'm not sure the extent of her brain damage, though.

Baiting Guru Joined: 07 Jan 2007 Posts: 2922

Glad to hear that the Birds and Grandma are both doing better.Fingers crossed etc.

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Mar 2007 Posts: 2628

Big Hugs Eliza.

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